It couldn’t have been easy for a veteran guy like Daniel Briere the last few days.

A healthy scratch for the Montreal Canadiens the last two games of their recently concluded road trip, this wasn’t the way it was supposed to go for the 36-year-old when he signed a two-year, $8 million deal to play for his mom’s favourite hockey team last summer.

“I have no control over when I play or how much I play,” said Briere Saturday morning as he prepared to make his return to the lineup against the Ottawa Senators at the Bell Centre. “It’s been a rollercoaster season. I know I can help out. I’ve been through tough times before. This is not the first time and I found a way out of it.”

Brier found a way out of it Saturday night, finding a way to get a couple pucks behind Senators goaltender Craig Anderson and helping set up another goal by Canadiens captain Brian Gionta in the third period of the Canadiens 4-3 loss in overtime to the Senators.

“It’s a good feeling. I felt like I’ve been waiting for a big game like that for a long time. It’s a good feeling to feel a part of the team, to feel like you’re helping out,” said Briere.

He started the game on the fourth line as centre Ryan White was out with an upper-body injury. He tied the game 1-1 after Ottawa’s Colin Greening had opened the scoring just 13 seconds into the game.

By the second period, Canadiens coach Michel Therrien, as coaches should, had rewarded Briere for some solid play by moving him up the lineup. That’s how he found himself playing left wing on a line with Tomas Plekanec and Gionta, a combination that had some success earlier this season.

Briere said he couldn’t explain why they click.

“I look back in the past and chemistry like that is something you can’t really explain when it happens,” he said. “I felt it the first time we played around together. I look back in Philadelphia the one year in the playoffs we had so many injuries, the coach decided to put Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell with me. Ville Leino had been a scratch for most of the year and all of a sudden, things just started clicking. It’s one of those things you can’t really explain. Sometimes it just happens and when it does, it’s a good feeling.”

It marked Briere’s first multi-goal game for the Habs and the first goals he’s scored in 13 games (he was scratched for another three games: Dec. 19 at St. Louis and then those last two games of the road trip, New Year’s Eve against the Carolina Hurricanes and Jan. 2 at the Dallas Stars).

Being scratched put a nick in the veteran’s pride.

“I didn’t like it, but if I liked it, I’d be in the wrong business,” he said. “Now I just have to put myself in the best frame of mind to be ready.”

Briere wasn’t making excuses.

He said he had a couple of discussions with Therrien about the situation.

“I know what he wants,” said Briere. “It’s up to me.”

The Canadiens lost on a power-play goal by Ottawa’s Clarke MacArthur with Montreal defenceman P.K. Subban off for hooking with 19 seconds left in the third period. He got his stick parallel to the ice and in the mid-section of Ottawa’s Erik Condra.

Therrien didn’t think it was a penalty and Subban wasn’t happy with the call, either.

“It didn’t really make sense. Other than that it seems like it’s personal to me because it has nothing to do with the game. If it doesn’t make sense on the ice and doesn’t make sense as a penalty, then what else is it?” wondered Subban, who’s got a reputation for chirping.

“I’ve been pretty good about keeping my mouth shut after games whether it’s been about the officiating or not. For some reason this time I feel like I need to express my emotion. You guys can watch the tape and figure out why I feel that I need to express my emotions.”